Jindal sees education as next civil rights battle

8/25/13 11:41 AM EDT

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said Sunday that the civil rights struggle of the future will be improving the U.S. education system.

“The next great civil rights fight is really about making sure that every child has a great education," the Republican governor said. "Look at all of the disparity numbers.”

The opportunity for Americans to get well-paying jobs and succeed starts with having access to good schools and resources, Jindal added.

“Let’s be honest, we all want to say we’re for equal opportunity in education, but that’s not the reality in America," he said. "If your parents have the means, they probably move to a good neighborhood with good public schools, or they’re saving their dollars to send you to a good private school. There are too many kids in this country today trapped in poor neighborhoods, with poor, failing public schools.”

Ninety percent of children in New Orleans are now in charter schools, Jindal added, and the number of children who are reading at grade level there has doubled in the last five years. Now Louisiana is expanding its school choice voucher program statewide.

“Too many people are still standing in the way," he said. "Teachers unions have been fighting against that. Just on Friday, the Department of Justice said they were going to go to court."

"Now the Department of Justice, using the same rules that were there to prevent discrimination against minority children, is going after some of these parents and some of these kids and saying, 'We don't know that we want to allow you to make this choice. We want you to have to go to a federal judge.' We need to provide a great education for every child."